Smilemakers

Well its been over a year since I have been able to go to Phoenix Children's Hospital and dress up in costumes to visit the patients. Kacie and I went on Saturday and it was such a great thing to do in the Christmas season. The kids were so cute, and although they are going through so much they still have a smile on their faces!

SHH!! I was Mickey!

The Move

Well we ended up leaving Utah in a rush. Which means I didn't get to say good bye to so many people! We planned on staying until Sunday to attend a couple Christmas parties but then the weather man kept saying snow was coming! With this in mind we knew it would be best to leave before it hit. Erich flew in early Friday morning, I finished student teaching at 2 while Erich picked up the truck. Some wonderful people from the ward came to help move the boxes into the truck! (thank you Matt, Jeff, Rebecca, and Aubrey) It only took half hour. Then Erich and I cleaned and were on our way by 6pm. We stayed the night in St. George and drove the rest of the way on Saturday. With the silly trailer we had for Erich's car the speed limit was 55, so a 11 hour trip quickly turned into a total of 15 hours!!! We are glad to be home and close to family, although I do miss so many people in Utah! Here are some pictures of our adventure

Oh how I miss this little guy! They lived above us and lets just say I was a little obsessed. Erich was jealous!

And these wonderful ladies! I miss my calling, never thought I would say it, but I do! I loved serving with you Hailey and Aubrey!! Oh and Jake, another little obsession, can we say baby hungry?

My last walk to campus!

My favorite shelf! My sister is still shocked that I made it (well painted it and such) she says its something that she would have made, I guess Utah brought out a crafty side to me.

The truck, pulling the car on the trailer!

Have you seen these??

I am in love with the Reflections of Christ pictures taken by Mark Mabry. I just found out that the prints are available to purchase! I am adding it to my Christmas list! Check them out at http://reflectionsofchrist.org/

Here are my favorites!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Erich was already in AZ for work and I originally planned on just staying in Utah. Late Wednesday afternoon my dad called telling me he had a ticket. I was a little hesitant but took the offer and flew home that night. I surprised Erich! He had no idea. A friend of his made up a story that he had to pick up a cousin from the airport. Well come to find out that "cousin" was me!! He was so surprised, if only I could have gotten a picture of his face! Priceless! but my camera was being weird at the moment. This is him in the car, so shocked! We were able to have dinner with both families, but I didn't take any pictures. I need to work on that.

I did take some pictures of my student's Thanksgiving crafts! So fun!

Joys of student teaching

There is not a day that goes by that my students don't crack me up! They are hilarious and very entertaining. Here are some fun moments, but you might have had to have been there to think they are funny!

• One student started busting out the robot one afternoon. This is totally out of character for him and he did it for like 5 minutes. I just had to stop what I was teaching because we were all so distracted by him!
• Learning about coins and the pictures of different presidents on each one. I told my students we would learn what president was on the quarter the next day when one student shouts out, " I think it is President Hinckley!"
• Asked a student what she was going to be for Halloween and replied, "Jesus." This went on for a few days, but then she moved on to Word Girl (which is what she was on Halloween, still not sure what it is)
• We were talking about what we eat for Thanksgiving and one student said, " I eat b-taters." With the help from the other adults, I realized it was potatoes! Hilarious!
• Learning about manners and we were reading a book that taught us when you burp you should say excuse me (we need to work on this in our class) and then one student raises her hand and says, " I farted and I said excuse me." I had to refrain from laughing and let her know that was the polite thing to do.
• Standing up randomly, singing I like to move it, move it, while dancing. We know what movie they saw!
• We were learning about Native American writings and how they used symbols and pictures to tell about themselves. We created some of our own about our school and class. I was trying to help my students think of a part of the bus we could draw. Hoping to get an answer like the wheel, or steering wheel, I picked on a student and he held up his hands and said, " this part of the bus." Guess he just wanted me to draw one side which would have worked as well :)

I need to keep a log at school. Really it is non stop! From the minute they come in the room yelling teacher teacher, showing me their lunches and wanting to play thumb wars. I am blessed to be able to spend 6 hours of my day teaching these wonderful children!

Packing!

We have started packing our apartment. We went out Saturday morning looking for boxes and Maceys had a ton to give us! They almost didn't fit in the car! It is crazy how much stuff we have acquired in just one year!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year! I took some pictures of outside of my student teaching classroom to remember all the cute crafts we did!!

Erich and I were invited to Melissa and Phillip's house for a Halloween party. I decided to make us costumes! I was the M&M and Erich was the bag!! Thanks to Shannon for letting me use her sewing machine!

Here is Melissa and Phillip! They looked great!


We carved pumpkins as well! Erich tried to make a face like our pumpkin

No clean dishes

We forget to run the dishwasher and this is what Erich found to eat his cereal. I almost died laughing!!

Moving to AZ

Erich had a phone interview this week to transfer down to a Verizon store in Arizona and he got the job! We are so relieved to know that he will have work as soon as we move down. In fact he will be down by Nov. 24th and then will come back up to get me when I am done with school. I can't believe that in 7 weeks I will be DONE with school!! I won't know what to do with all my free time ( I am sure I will find something)

It is bitter sweet to be moving home. We want to be close to our families, but I will miss all the wonderful friends we have made while living here. I won't miss the snow though :)

BYU Football

Erich and I decided that we needed to "experience" a BYU football game before moving home. Of course the game we chose happened to be on the coldest day!! There was a chance of snow all day, thankfully it didn't snow but we went to the game prepared! BYU played New Mexico and we won!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled day

We started off by having breakfast at Kneaders! All you can eat french toast, to die for!!

We went to watch the Homecoming Parade- this car was Erich's favorite part

Game time!

General Relief Society Broadcast

My stake was given tickets to the RS Broadcast and some ladies in my ward and I were able to attend. This is always a wonderful meeting but it was so great to be able to be in the presence of our prophet and leaders of the church. The spirit was so strong and the messages given were wonderful. Here are some of the ladies that I went with.

Racoon

Erich and I took out the trash one night to find this little friend!

Student Teaching!!

The day Erich and I got back from AZ I started student teaching!! It was a crazy trip home. We arrived in Salt Lake when Erich realized we left his car keys in Arizona at my parent's house. Thankfully I knew someone on the flight that was willing to give us a ride home to Provo! The next task was getting Erich's car to Provo. Once again we were so blessed to have Erich's aunts and uncles flying in as well that afternoon so my mom took them the keys in Arizona and they drove the car to Provo when they got in. We got home to Provo to realize that my car keys were in Erich's car!! I was in a hurry to get to my classroom and my wonderful neighbor Jenn drove me and picked me up from my school. Erich was able to catch the bus to work! Note to self: never leave your keys in another state.

I am loving my student teaching experience. I am in a self-contained special education class and my students range from 1st to 6th grade. I look forward to seeing them each day and it really has been a rewarding experience. Once student refers to me as "Merry Teacher." I assume it is a good thing, but not sure how it came about. I can't believe this is my last semester of college, time has flown by!!

Mom's Wedding

Over Labor Day we got to go home to Arizona for a quick visit. Erich's mom was getting married to Martin and we were so excited to be there for their special day! It turned about beautiful and we wish them the very best. We are looking forward to moving home and getting to know Martin more!!
Here are some pictures of their special day.

One Year Anniversary!!

Last Sunday Erich and I celebrated our one year anniversary. Wow does time fly. It also means we have lived in Utah for a year! We have had a wonderful first year and look forward to many more to come. We decided to take a quick trip to Vegas for the weekend. Erich had never been so we thought it would be fun to go see the sites!

We started our weekend by going to a sealing session at the Provo Temple on Saturday. I was told by the sealer ahead of time to make sure to move around and such to keep from fainting. Well even with the warning I still fainted after one of the sealings. I guess it is a good place to be to pass out!!
Here are some pictures from our trip.

We stayed at the Treasure Island Hotel

There was an FAO Schwartz toy store inside Ceasar Palace!!

I have a love for Melissa and Doug toys!!! The selection here was amazing.

One day older and wiser too....

Happy Birthday, to you!! Yesterday was Erich's mom's birthday. We wish we could have been there to celebrate with the family but will have to wait for a few more weeks until we make an AZ visit when she is getting married to Martin. We are so excited for them! She is a wonderful hardworking, giving mother and deserves the best!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Here are some pictures of her!

At our wedding.....

At a family reunion last year with her siblings!! (she is on the far right!)